Posts tagged ‘Saville Resources Inc (SRE)’

A property with limited exploration but encouraging geophysics shows further promise following a recent field program. Of eight surface samples collected by Saville Resources TSXV:SRE on its 3,370-hectare Covette project in Quebec’s James Bay region, one returned 1.2% zinc and 68.7 g/t silver, while three others assayed between 0.13% and 0.19% nickel.

Sampling took place along a visible strike of about 200 metres directly above an area of high conductivity found by a 2016 VTEM program that spotted several EM conductors coinciding with strong magnetic anomalies.

Underlying the region is a greenstone belt “comprised of various mafic to ultramafic rock units considered prospective for base and precious metals (nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group elements-gold-silver), as well as pegmatite-hosted rare metals (lithium-tantalum),” Saville reported. “Komatiites have also been described in the region with such rock types known to host significant nickel-copper massive sulphide deposits at other localities globally, adding further to the prospective nature of the region.”

Further plans include follow-up trenching and channel sampling. Saville filed a 43-101 technical report on the property and closed its 100% acquisition in June.

Covette sits about 190 kilometres east of the town of Radisson and 10 kilometres north of the all-weather Trans-Taiga road and the adjacent hydro-electricity transmission line.

In another northern Quebec project, Saville has a 43-101 technical report underway for the Miranna claims situated on the Eldor property that hosts Commerce Resources’ (TSXV:CCE) advanced-stage Ashram rare earths deposit. Saville would acquire a 75% earn-in subject to exchange approval. In April the companies released niobium-tantalum boulder sample grades as high as 4.3% Nb2O5 and 700 ppm Ta2O5.

Last month Saville offered two private placements totalling up to $2 million.

Ongoing metallurgical work at l’Université Laval has so far accomplished a number of goals while helping Commerce Resources’ (TSXV:CCE) Ashram deposit move towards pre-feasibility. Researchers found success in their primary task of validating new software for REE separation but met other goals as well.

“The rapid progress of this collaboration now includes the first-ever mixed rare earth oxide concentrate produced from Ashram deposit material,” said Commerce president Chris Grove. “This is a key milestone for the advancement of the project. This test work has demonstrated again the versatility of the Ashram deposit to be processed by a number of different flowsheet approaches.”

Previous work produced over 45% rare earths oxide, among the highest-grade concentrates for RE development projects and comparing favourably with operating mines, Commerce reported. “This is a direct result of the simple rare earth and gangue mineralogy of the Ashram deposit…. This versatility in processing approaches lends itself to more cost-effective methods to be incorporated into the final flowsheet to achieve the same products and quality desired.”

Laval achieved recovery rates of 60% to 65% for several light rare earths, while modifications are anticipated to bring further improvement.

The work also validated the university’s software, as results closely matched the simulator’s predictions. Using another 1.5 tonnes of Ashram material, the lab team will conduct tests at the larger pilot scale level, comparing its results with those of the simulator and further assessing the economics of REE separation into individual rare earth oxides.

The software is intended to reduce processing delays and costs, as well as predict results for processing changes. The software might also determine process optimization that considers current REE prices.

The studies get financial support through a $365,000 grant from Quebec’s ministère de l’Économie, de la Science et de l’Innovation.

Last month Commerce reported positive results from advanced tailings optimization tests conducted by a branch of l’Université du Québec. Additional provincial funding supports that research. The company also received government support from a $1-million investment by Ressources Québec last year.

An undrilled property with encouraging geophysical results will undergo a summer field program, now that Saville Resources TSXV:SRE has finalized its acquisition of the James Bay-region Covette project. A 1,402-line VTEM survey from 2016 outlined at least six areas of high conductivity on the 3,315-hectare property, with one zone extending southeast about 4.5 kilometres and another trending northeast. Those areas “need to be evaluated,” stated a 43-101 technical report filed this month.

A pegmatite ridge on Saville Resources’ Covette project, which now has Phase I field work planned.

Sampling conducted last year showed 0.18% nickel, 0.09% copper and 87 ppm cobalt, but the field program wasn’t sufficient to explain the source of the VTEM anomalies, which may indicate a source at depth, the company stated.

A Phase I field program recommended by the technical report would include detailed mapping and sampling in areas of high-conductivity, channel sampling and further geophysics. The project sits about 10 kilometres north of the all-weather Trans-Taiga road and adjacent transmission line.

Meanwhile work continues on another Quebec acquisition as Saville prepares a 43-101 technical report on the Miranna claims, located on the Eldor property that hosts Commerce Resources’ (TSXV:CCE)advanced-stage rare earths deposit. In April the companies reported assays as high as 4.3% Nb2O5 and 700 ppm Ta2O5, results in line with previous high grades. Subject to exchange approval, Saville would acquire a 75% earn-in on Miranna.

With financial support from the Quebec government and academic expertise from two universities, Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE announced progress on the pre-feasibility studies underway for the Ashram rare earths deposit.

On June 5 the company reported positive results from advanced tailings optimization tests conducted by le Centre Eau Terre Environnement of l’Institut national de la recherche scientifique, a branch of l’Université du Québec. Now in the second year of a three-year project, the work gets funding from les Fonds de recherche du Québec—Nature et technologies and le ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles. The lab work found no serious concerns, no acid generating potential and “strong indications of no metal-leaching potential,” Commerce stated.

The positive outcome benefited from “the inherent low-sulphide and non-acidic nature of the carbonatite host rock,” said company president Chris Grove.

The program also looked at the mineralogy of an Ashram fluorspar concentrate, a potential byproduct of the deposit. Initial findings brought “very encouraging” signs that recovery of monazite grains could upgrade the purity of the fluorspar concentrate and potentially increase the overall recovery of rare earth elements into the primary rare earth concentrate, Commerce added.

The news follows a May 31 annnouncement that l’Université Laval will conduct pilot plant metallurgical tests on Ashram material in a program backed by a $365,000 grant from le ministère de l’Économie, de la Science et de l’Innovation.

Laval’s coat of arms: Total funding ranks the school sixth out of Canada’s top 50 research universities.

Focusing on hydrometallurgical extraction of REEs and the use of new software to simulate their separation, the project will further develop Quebec expertise in REE separation and assess the economics of performing that work in the province. Results would help develop an alternative source of rare earths for global markets.

The work takes place as heightened awareness of critical minerals comes from an American strategy to reduce reliance on potentially unstable or unfriendly countries.

Both the hydromet process and simulator software have been tested in bench scale studies. Results brought recoveries surpassing 85% and showed positive correlation with the computer-simulated data. The current project further develops these studies at the pilot plant level.

With approximately two tonnes of Ashram material to work on, the project takes place at the SGS lab in Quebec City. The goal is to produce a high-grade concentrate, then a solution for partial separation into light, medium and heavy rare earth elements.

Beneficiaries of the project will be Quebec R&D and industry, as well as Commerce’s Ashram deposit as it progresses towards pre-feasibility. Previous government support for Ashram came from Ressources Québec, which invested $1 million in the company’s February 2017 private placement.

Taking another step to enhance national security, the U.S. Department of the Interior has formally accepted a draft list of 35 minerals deemed critical to the American economy and defence. Resulting from a presidential order to reduce reliance on essential raw materials from potentially unreliable or unfriendly sources, the list received 453 public comments after being compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The agenda now moves to the strategy stage, with a final report expected by August on approaches to cut dependence. Topics will include:

the status of recycling technologies

alternatives to critical minerals

options for accessing critical minerals from allies and partners

a plan to improve geological mapping in the U.S.

recommendations to streamline lease permitting and review processes

ways to increase discovery, production and domestic refining of critical minerals

The Americans’ heightened interest in sourcing these necessities from allies and partners brings to mind companies like Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE, which has two advanced-stage Canadian properties hosting four critical minerals. At the company’s northern Quebec Eldor property, Commerce undertakes pre-feasibility studies on the Ashram deposit, hosting a rare earths resource with fluorspar byproduct potential. In central British Columbia, the company holds the Blue River tantalum-niobium deposit. Those two metals are also the subject of early-stage exploration on Eldor, a few kilometres from Ashram.

“Ultimately, what’s obvious from this critical minerals list is the U.S. government’s interest in cutting the Chinese umbilical cord,” points out company president Chris Grove. “A commonality that we at Commerce keep hearing is anxiety from companies in all of the major markets outside China—Japan, Korea, Germany, Austria, the U.S., France—companies in all these countries are concerned about future supplies of these commodities and they don’t want to have to depend on them from China. Essentially, the theme of this critical commodities list is getting it from somewhere besides China.”

And although China looms large, it’s not the only source of dubious reliability.

“There’s a huge increase in risk once you step outside North America. With our locations, we definitely benefit from that negation of jurisdictional risk.”

Mineralogy reduces another category of risk. “Looking at the specifics of our projects, both Ashram and Blue River are processed very positively with standard techniques,” Grove adds. “We’re not re-creating the wheel here, we’re not re-splitting the atom. Well-understood metallurgical processes work on both of our projects.

“Meanwhile we have ongoing optimization work on Ashram and also on the flowsheet for Blue River and there will be more data released in a timely manner on these potential successes.”

The company has early-stage prospects too, emphasized by especially high-grade niobium, along with tantalum, on the Miranna claims. Located on the same Eldor property hosting Ashram, the project has a 43-101 technical report now nearing completion. Subject to exchange approval, Miranna would then come under a 75% earn-in by Saville Resources TSXV:SRE.

USGS data accentuates American reliance on foreign sources for Commerce’s four minerals. Data from 2013 to 2016 shows the U.S. imported 78% of its rare earths from China, with much of the other 22% originating in Chinese-produced concentrates. China produced only 8% of American fluorspar imports, but Mexico supplied 71%. U.S. imports of tantalum minerals came 40% from Brazil and 26% from Rwanda, while America’s tantalum metal originated 23% in China and 12% in Kazakhstan. An overwhelming 72% of niobium, a crucial component to military, infrastructure and other uses, came from Brazil—most of it from a single company.

Not just inadequate reserves but dubious origins threaten security of supply for strategic commodities. A prime example is niobium, a largely single-source product from CBMM in Brazil that gives one company and one country enormous potential power. Tantalum raises further concerns as it passes through shadowy supply lines that could obscure conflict sources. Both metals appear on the recent U.S. draft list of 35 critical minerals. And both appear in substantial quantities in one east-central British Columbia deposit.

That brings additional interest to Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE, best-known for its Ashram rare earths deposit in northern Quebec. While that project moves towards pre-feasibility, the company’s Blue River property in B.C. offers advantageous resources, metallurgy, infrastructure and economics for the rare metals age, says company president Chris Grove.

Industry has noticed, evident in the inquiries he’s received from end-users.

“We’re very excited about the new interest in Blue River,” he says. “Companies are looking at the provenance of these commodities and the new executive order signed by President Trump focuses on the origin of these critical commodities, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity to be seen for Blue River.”

At this stage, processing looks good. Tantalum and niobium “occur within the minerals pyrochlore and ferrocolumbite and are amenable to conventional flotation and proven refining processes with estimated recoveries of 65% to 70%,” the 43-101 stated. “The industrial processes proposed for the production of high-quality tantalum and niobium products from the concentrates have not been tested using material from the Blue River project but are known processes that are not expected to be difficult to develop for the project.”

Those qualities alone encourage optimism for production costs, Grove points out. But a more recent development suggests even greater potential savings to both capex and opex. In February the company announced successful processing through a patented method called the Krupin Process. That followed months of work on a 1,300-kilogram sample of Blue River material at the Estonian lab of Alexander Krupin. An expert in tantalum and niobium recovery, his CV shows more than 35 years’ experience, including over 15 years processing high-grade concentrates of those two metals.

But it took another expert to confirm the results. To that end Commerce dispatched chairperson Axel Hoppe to Krupin’s lab. Formerly president of the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center and a senior manager at H.C. Starck, a global producer of tantalum and niobium products, Hoppe “confirmed a very significant new development in processing that should save significantly on costs,” Grove says.

As a result, Commerce is now working on a definitive agreement to incorporate the Krupin Process at Blue River and also acquire worldwide rights to the method.

Covering 105,373 hectares, the property sits about 250 highway kilometres north of Kamloops, with access from another four klicks of gravel road. CN rail tracks and a parallel high-voltage transmission line cross the property’s western side, while a 20 MW run-of-river hydro plant operates adjacent to Blue River.

With niobium in a location like that, Blue River has attracted “huge interest from the steel sector,” Grove says. As electronics manufacturers take a closer look at some of the Democratic Republic of Congo mines that supply their cobalt, tantalum’s due for similar scrutiny, he adds.

Meanwhile, highly impressive niobium-tantalum assays from Commerce’s Quebec property have spawned an early-stage exploration project. Samples have graded as high as 4.24%, 4.3% and even 5.93% Nb2O5, as well as 1,040 ppm, 1,060 ppm and 1,220 ppm Ta2O5. The exceptional grades prompted Saville Resources TSXV:SRE to sign a 75% earn-in for the Niobium Claim Group on the Eldor property that also hosts Commerce’s advanced-stage Ashram rare earths deposit. Saville now has a 43-101 technical report underway. Dependent on TSXV approval of the deal and subsequent funding, the company plans drilling this year.

Interestingly it was Saville president Mike Hodge who staked the Blue River claims, after Dahrouge Geological Consulting brought the property to the attention of Commerce. Now a former Dahrouge geologist currently with the B.C. Geological Survey plans a public site visit to Blue River. Alexei Rukhlov will co-lead the June 22-24 field trip, an event open to participants of Resources for Future Generations 2018. Click here for more info.

While preparations continue for this year’s drill program, additional high-grade niobium-tantalum sample assays have arrived from northern Quebec’s Niobium Claim Group. On April 12 Saville Resources TSXV:SRE and Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE reported grades as high as 4.3% Nb2O5 and 700 ppm Ta2O5 from the new project, situated on the latter company’s Eldor property. Saville has signed a 75% earn-in agreement on the claim group, which sits a few kilometres from Ashram, one of the Western world’s most advanced rare earths deposits. Commerce has that project advancing towards pre-feasibility.

High grades from last fall’s sampling program have Saville and Commerce looking forward to an upcoming drill campaign.

The results fall in line with previous high grades from the project’s Miranna area of 4.24% and an especially impressive 5.93% Nb2O5. Previous tantalum assays from Miranna have reached as high as 1,220 ppm, 1,060 ppm and 1,040 ppm Ta2O5.

The Northwest area gave up the richest sample, which reached 16.1% Nb2O5 and 7,540 ppm Ta2O5.

Collected by Commerce last year from the Miranna area, the most recent results show:

4.3% Nb2O5, 240 ppm Ta2O5 and 13.4% P2O5

2.75% Nb2O5, 130 ppm Ta2O5 and 7.6% P2O5

2.24% Nb2O5, 290 ppm Ta2O5 and 11.6% P2O5

0.69% Nb2O5, 350 ppm Ta2O5 and 8.8% P2O5

0.75% Nb2O5, 660 ppm Ta2O5 and 14.2% P2O5

1.18% Nb2O5, 590 ppm Ta2O5 and 13.1% P2O5

1.16% Nb2O5, 700 ppm Ta2O5 and 0.65% P2O5

Miranna forms one of three prospective areas, along with the Northwest and Southeast areas. Miranna features a strongly mineralized boulder train which, a geophysical anomaly called the Miranna target suggests, might have its source partly on the property. The data indicates several overlapping boulder trains might also be present, with one possible source in the Southeast area.

Additional work shows the primary host mineral to be pyrochlore, the dominant source mineral for processing niobium and tantalum.

The upcoming drill program will focus on the Miranna target, as well as testing the Northwest and Southeast areas. Contingent on TSXV approval of Saville’s earn-in, the companies plan to file a 43-101 technical report on the project.

Earlier this month Saville closed the second tranche of a private placement totalling $289,700.

In addition to Ashram, Commerce holds the Blue River tantalum-niobium deposit in southeastern British Columbia, which reached PEA in 2011 and a resource update in 2013.

An early-stage but highly prospective rare metals project continues to advance as two companies identify drill targets and work towards an initial 43-101 technical report. On April 5 Saville Resources TSXV:SRE and Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE released an update for the Niobium Claim Group, an approximately 980-hectare package within Commerce’s northern Quebec Eldor property. Last January Saville inked an agreement for a 75% earn-in on the niobium-tantalum project that’s contingent on the 43-101 and TSXV approval.

Sampling and drilling so far on the Niobium Claim Group have outlined three focal points called the Miranna, Southeast and Northwest areas. Previously reported niobium samples from the Miranna boulder train include an exceptional result of 5.93% Nb2O5, as well as 4.24% and 1.94% Nb2O5. Tantalum samples graded as high as 1,220 ppm, 1,060 ppm and 1,040 ppm Ta2O5. Phosphate assays reached up to 11.9%, 11.5% and 11.1% P2O5.

The team interprets the source of mineralization to be a geophysical anomaly at the boulder train’s apex. As yet undrilled, the location comprises a priority for rig activity.

Some standouts from previously reported drilling at the Northwest area showed:

0.55% Nb2O5, 166 ppm Ta2O5 and 5% P2O5 over 13.15 metres

0.46% Nb2O5, 60 ppm Ta2O5 and 4.6% P2O5 over 46.88 metres

(including 0.64% Nb2O5, 20 ppm Ta2O5 and 5.9% P2O5 over 9.95 metres)

A boulder sample with an especially impressive 16.1% Nb2O5 and 7,540 ppm Ta2O5 was collected at the Northwest area’s western edge, where glacial ice direction suggested a potential source within the claim group.

Some previous intercepts from Southeast showed:

0.54% Nb2O5, 71 ppm Ta2O5 and 5.9% P2O5 over 26.1 metres

0.57% Nb2O5, 145 ppm Ta2O5 and 8.9% P2O5 over 74.25 metres

(including 0.85% Nb2O5, 97 ppm Ta2O5 and 8.9% P2O5 over 19.54 metres)

0.48% Nb2O5, 329 ppm Ta2O5 and 7.2% P2O5 over 33.93 metres

The Southeast results in particular call for additional infill and step-out drilling for further delineation and to consider completing a maiden resource, the companies stated. Geophysics provides further evidence of drill targets in all three areas.

Tests have identified the primary host mineral for niobium-tantalum to be pyrochlore, the dominant source mineral for processing those metals.

Saville also announced the closing of the second tranche of a private placement totalling $289,700.